


Haunted Manor

by DawnsEternalLight



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Super Sons (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Humor, Wayne Manor, ghost hunt - Freeform, is it haunted, kids being kids, only by Jason if we're being honest, supersons - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 10:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10384779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnsEternalLight/pseuds/DawnsEternalLight
Summary: The manor was not haunted. It couldn't be. Damian would know. Wouldn't he?He wasn't sure anymore, not after he and Jon ran into one on a tour of the manor. It was supposed to be a boring night, where Damian's main concern was sneaking out to join his Father on patrol. How had he ended up so wrapped up in this ghost mystery?





	

**Author's Note:**

> We all knew it was bound to happen, me writing something Supersons related. Damian and Jon are just too much fun together for me not to do something with. So enjoy this little ghost hunting adventure.

A high pitched scream tore through the manor, accompanied by the heavy crashing of panicked feet on wood as Damian and Jon tore down a hallway. Their pace was one of panicked teens running from a ghostly apparition after late night tales of horror. Despite the lack of scary stories or jump scares, Damian could almost be certain of the presence of a ghostly apparition. One he didn’t want following them by Jon’s yelling.

“Silence, Kent.” Damian hissed as they slid to turn, their feet in unison pounding down the next hallway.

Jon gulped and managed to cut off his cry as the two reached the main staircase. He was glad of his new attention when Damian stumbled on one of the steps and he had to reach out and haul him back. Damian grumbled a thank you as they reach the bottom step and continued running.

Their mad dash only stopped when they’d reached the safety of the well lit living room they’d set up camp in. Jon feel onto the couch, tossing a pillow off it to meet the other ones scattered around the sleeping bags on the floor.

Titus looked up from where he’d been curled up on one of the pillows and tilted his head at Jon. Damian stepped over to scratch him behind his ears. The simple action started to calm Damian’s frayed nerves.

“I thought you said the manor wasn’t haunted.” Jon said, his words broken as he attempted to catch his breath. Neither boy was out of shape, but both still struggled to slow their racing hearts and control their heaving chests.   

“It’s not.” Damian snapped.

Titus shook his head, discharging Damian’s hand from its task, and laid back down. Damian crossed his arms and let one foot tap on the floor as his mind tried to come to terms with what had just happened. For it _had_ happened. Damian was sure of it. What it was, he wasn’t sure of. Surrounded by the normality of the living room he was starting to wonder what it was they’d encountered.

“Well,” Jon said, absently reaching for the half-finished bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. “It sure seems that way to me.”

Damian would not admit it, but for the moment Jon was right. Damian had been showing Jon around the manor and they’d stopped at the library when it happened. Up until that point things had been quiet. It always was when his family was all out on patrol or, in Father’s case, a league mission. Normally Damian valued peace and quiet in his life, but not when it came at the price of missing an alien invasion, or when he was forced to endure it alongside Jon. At that point it couldn’t be considered silence anymore, not with the younger boy’s constant chattering. Either way, Jon was not the point. The ghost was.

What he’d expected to be a mind numbing tour of the manor during an equally mind numbing ‘sleepover’ with Jon had quickly turned into something out of the idiotic Goosebumps books Brown was always trying to get Damian to read. Even with the few he’d read, he had never expected to experience something similar to the childish situations contained. Neither had he expected to react in the same way.

He had seen scarier things in his life. Gotham was teeming with sights more terrifying than a ghost. His mother had exposed him to far worse. He crossed his arms and scowled. He’d died himself, so why had the possibility of a ghost sent him fleeing like a child for their mother? His eyes landed on the boy before him.

“This is your fault, Kent. If I hadn’t been forced to keep an eye on you--”

“An eye on me?” Jon gulped down the popcorn he’d been chewing on and leaned forward. “I don’t think so, I’m the one keeping an eye on you, my dad said so.”

“Well _my_ father--”

A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder cut off Damian’s words. Damian flinched, and Jon jumped in his seat, the bowl of popcorn he’d pulled into his lap jerking with him and scattering kernels over the couch, Jon, and Damian’s sketchbook that rested on the unoccupied cushion. Jon hurried to clean up the spill as Titus jumped up from his spot to help by eating the pieces that had landed on the floor. Damian turned to glare at the window.

“Tt.” he tutted, “Pathetic fallacy.”

“Pathetic what?” Jon said setting the bowl back on the coffee table, his hand already straying towards the bowl of gummy bears.

“It’s nothing.” Damian said, shaking his head. “Just as that ghost was nothing.”

Even as he denied it, his mind refused to release the image of a pale, translucent figure darting through the dim library, ghostly tendrils floating behind it as it moved from one stack to the other. It couldn’t be real. Ghosts did not exist. He should know. Todd would know. Damian rolled his eyes, if Todd had been a ghost he never would have shut up about everyone he’d ever haunted. No, ghosts did not exist. Which posed the question, what _had_ they seen?

“It was definitely something.” Jon said.

“Something yes. A ghost no.” Damian said. “And I will prove it.”  

Half an hour and a thorough search of the library left Damian feeling frustrated and confused. The library was empty of people, persons, or ghosts. Which was good because no ghosts. And bad because, they hadn’t found an explanation for what they’d seen. There had been no clues to explain an intruder or loose bat or anything.

“Maybe we scared it out of the library?” Jon suggested as he twisted two pieces of laffy taffy together, the pink and yellow colors almost, but not quite blending, in his grip.

Damian felt a twinge of horror watching Jon play with the candy. He could feel his own fingers getting sticky at the sight. “Perhaps.” he admitted, brushing a hand along his pant leg, “It could have moved through the back wall, if it is indeed a ghost. Even so, it has probably already moved on.”  

“How come?” Jon said, the word come sounding more like ‘comb’ with his mouth full of taffy.

Damian raised an eyebrow at him and Jon swallowed the candy and gave him a sheepish smile. “Well?” he asked again.

“The library is next to Grayson’s bedroom and his cheer could exercise anything, even a vengeful spirit.” Not that he was admitting the thing was a spirit, only that Grayson could scare off anything with his overabundance of goodwill. “Drake’s room would be a different matter, but it’s not in the right place.”

Jon leaned back against one of the armchairs and crossed his arms. “Your brothers seem interesting. I wonder when I’ll get to meet them all?”

Damian shrugged. “I don’t see why you’d want to meet them.”

Jon rolled his eyes. “Because, they sound fun. Better than you most days.” he gave him a toothy grin and had to duck as Damian threw a decorative pillow from the matching armchair.

“I was thinking,” Jon said, grin still in place, “Maybe the ghost is here, but it’s just gone invisible.”

“Tt. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard come from you all evening, Kent.”

Jon’s eyebrows creased as he frowned. “I’m serious. Have you ever seen one of those ghost hunting shows? They never really see a ghost, not for long. They always have to use special equipment to find them.”

“Hmm.” Damian said. Jon could be right. That is, if it was a ghost, and if it was even still present. Damian knew it couldn’t be one, but he needed to be sure. He nodded at Jon. “I know a way we can check, but we’ll have to be careful and quiet.”

* * *

Damian should have left Jon in the living room. He would have been content enough there with all the candy and snacks left out by Alfred. But Damian had not wanted to go anywhere alone. It was stupid. He shouldn’t feel anxious at the thought of sneaking down to the cave on his own, yet he did. He blamed the ghost. No, he blamed Jon. The boy had a way of making Damian feel odd. ‘Like a kid’ Grayson would say. Damian did not want to feel like a child. Children were weak and feeble. Damian was none of those things.

“I can’t believe your dad really has ghost hunting equipment. Batman really is always prepared.” Jon whispered.

They were attempting to sneak down to the cave to collect the equipment. Attempting seemed the operative word as Jon had not stopped speaking since they’d opened the grandfather clock. Damian thought he’d made it clear that Alfred was not to know of their presence, but apparently he hadn’t done a good enough job. Or Jon was simply a bad listener.

All the same, Damian felt a spark of pride at Jon’s words. His father was prepared for anything. “Of course my father does. It only makes sense to prepare for any situation.”

“Does that mean he believes in ghosts?” Jon asked.

“Ha.” Damian scoffed. “Why would he? He only has it to prove they aren’t real.”

Jon frowned at him. “I’m not sure I believe that.”

They were getting close to the end of the stairs and Damian held up a hand to stop the conversation “Shh, from now on we have to be silent. If Pennyworth hears us you won’t be able to see the equipment, let alone use it.”

The threat of missing out seemed to be enough to mollify the look of irritation he’d given Damian for shushing him and Jon nodded. He let Damian move a few steps ahead of him as they crept the last few with feather quiet steps. Damian paused to peer out and find Alfred’s location in the cave. He was focused on the screen in front of him, most likely pulling up a file for Father.

If they were quick they could make it to the equipment and back before Alfred was done. Father stored it in a locker by the uniforms, the route to which was mostly out of Alfred’s current line of vision.

Damian motioned for Jon’s continued silence, then to follow him. Together they crept quietly and quickly across the cave, stopping at the locker. Damian opened it slowly, praying it was well oiled, and pulled out an armful of equipment. When he turned to hand it to Jon he froze, horrified.

Jon had blown a bubble. He hadn’t been chewing it on their walk down, so it must have come out of his pocket as they’d snuck over. For his part, Jon looked equally surprised at the bubble. His eyes crossed down to watch the overly large pink mass, stretched to the edge of popping.

There was a moment of tense silence as Damian waited for it to pop, his whole body poised to bolt the moment the sound echoed through the cave. One then two and three seconds passed with no pop, instead Jon’s chest heaved as he pulled the air back in, deflating the bubble, before he pulled the gum back into his mouth.

Damian let out a breath and glared at Jon before handing him the collection of gear he’d grabbed. He turned to close the locker and the door released an ear cringing squeak. Jon’s eyes went wide like saucers and Damian mouthed, _run_.

Jon was faster than him and managed to make it to the hidden depths of the staircase before Damian.

Alfred’s, “Hold it right there, young man,” stopped him in his tracks.

Damian tried his best to send the message of _Just go up the stairs already, you idiot,_ to Jon with his eyes before he turned to face Alfred.

The man stood, arms crossed, eyebrow raised, with his best disappointed frown on. Damian prepared himself for a telling off, and bit his tongue against responding. He couldn’t tell Alfred his real reason for being down in the cave, he wouldn’t understand Damian’s need to be sure there wasn’t actually a ghost in the library.

“I am disappointed in you, Master Damian. I didn’t think you’d abandon Jon like that.” Alfred said.

Damian did his best to look caught and hurt by Alfred’s words. “I wasn’t abandoning him, Pennyworth. I simply wanted to make sure everything was going alright with Father.”

Now that he said it, he did have the desire to check up on his father and make sure everything was going ok. He wasn’t confident Pennyworth would warn either he or Jon if things took a turn for the worse. Alfred had been less and less willing to let Damian do anything he considered too dangerous as time went on. Damian could understand his worry, but at the same time he hated being treated with kid gloves.

“Then why were you in the uniform lockers?” Alfred asked.

Damian shrugged. “I thought I’d left one of Titus’s toys down here. I was wrong.”

“Hmm.” Alfred didn’t seem to believe him but his next words told Damian he’d let the fib slide, “Your father is fine, so I suggest you head back upstairs before Jon misses you.”

Damian hesitated to turn, one foot pointed behind him. “Pennyworth?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“You will let us know if anything happens right?”

Alfred gave him a gentle smile. “You boys will be the first to know.”

* * *

Damian held the EMF reader out to the stacks where they’d seen the figure. It read normal, like it had the last three times he’d tried it. Jon was peering down at it over Damian’s shoulder, his face so close to Damian’s he had to resist jerking away.  

"See. No ghost." Damian smirked.

Jon frowned and took the reader from Damian's hand, then stepped back to examine it himself. "Maybe not here." He said.

"I checked it three times, there is no ghost." Damian told him.

"What if it moved?" Jon suggested. He clicked the reader off and handed it back to him, "You guys have an attic right?"

"Of course." Damian said but there was less venom than he'd meant. "Why?"

He was intrigued, to him the hunt was over. They hadn't found even a clue of a ghost or intruder. Damian wasn't sure what they'd seen, but he could easily convince himself it had been a trick of light enhanced by the weather outside, and perhaps Alfred darting across the stacks. His cat enjoyed high places, and the books in the library were always tempting toys to him. Even so, Jon was giving him another chance to continue the search. He too seemed eager to find out what had really happened instead of accepting half an answer.

Jon reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out half a bag of sour gummy worms. He unrolled it distractedly as he thought over Damian's question. "Well," he pulled out a green and orange one, frowned at it, and dropped it back into the bag, "they tend to like attics, I think it's because there's so many old abandoned things in them. We could check there."

Damian wondered briefly if there was some kind of Kryptonian technology that let Jon have pockets large enough to have stored all the candy he’d been eating in. But if there were such a thing his father would know about it, and would have applied it to their utility belts. Jon held the bag out to Damian who waved it off.

“Fine,” Damian crossed his arms, “But I don’t think we’ll find anything.” Even so he was a bit excited to check. He had no idea what they’d find, or what it would mean to have a ghost in the manor, but he was interested to find out.

Jon insisted on leading, even though Damian ended up directing him most of the way to the attic. The rain outside had begun to fall harder, and even through the manor’s thick walls the patter of water could be heard alongside the occasional rumble of thunder. The closer they got to the roof the louder the pounding of the rain got. Damian didn’t want to admit it, but the noise and the dim lighting of the single bulb in the stairwell had caused his chest to tighten with nerves of the unknown.

At the top of the attic staircase Jon paused with his hand on the knob. Damian had the EMF meter in his hand and Jon had a thermal reader in his, both boys were wearing night vision goggles. Behind them Titus bumped the back of Damian’s leg with his nose. Initially Damian hadn’t wanted to bring the dog, but Jon had insisted and Titus himself seemed happy to come. Damian reached back to scratch between Titus’ ears, letting the dog’s proximity ease what nervousness it could.

Jon turned to look at Damian who nodded. The nod felt strange with goggles on his face, and Damian whished he’d had time to grab his domino mask simply because it lacked the bulk the goggles had.

At his nod Jon returned his focus to the door and breathed in, his shoulders lifting with the influx of air, before he turned the knob and they eased their way inside. Jon’s hand was on the light switch when Damian stopped him shaking his head. Light trickled into the room from a rounded window on the far side of the room giving them enough to see by, even if they hadn’t brought their goggles.

The plan had been to split up, but Titus darted forward, his nose chasing something. Both Damian and Jon followed him, meters up. Their eyes were so focused on the screens and dog before them that when a stack of boxes fell over, their clatter a crash of noise and sound, both boys jumped, Jon yelped and Damian dropped his meter. Both of them leaned down to pick it up and bumped heads, their goggles crashing into each other and sending them tumbling to the ground in a heap.

While they were trying to untangle, Titus barked and chased after something else. He crashed into more boxes as he darted through the attic until he reached the door where he stopped, and sniffed, seeming to have lost the scent. By the time Jon and Damian made it back to their feet whatever had caused the sound was long gone, Jon’s meter reading hot and cold confused by the boxes, and Damian’s screen was cracked from the tumble and one of their elbows digging into it.

“Your dad won’t be mad will he?” Jon asked looking at the broken meter.

Damian shrugged. “It’s not the worst thing I’ve broken.” He didn’t really care about the meter or if Father would be mad about its destruction, he was more worried about the source of Titus’ excitement and the noise. His heart was racing, the rain was pouring, and he was getting really frustrated.

“Did you see it?” Jon asked.

“See what?” Damian’s attention whirled to Jon.

Jon waved his arms towards the first set of collapsed boxes. “The ghost. It was huge, like a terrifying dark shadow. Titus must have scared it off.”

Both turned to Titus who still hadn’t moved from the door, he was sniffing, looking down the stairs and doing it again, like he wasn’t sure what he was smelling but that it was interesting. Damian and Jon moved to look down them, seeing nothing, but Titus seemed to take their movement as permission to go after the scent and he darted down the stairs.

“Come on!” Jon shouted and followed Titus, taking the steps two at a time to catch up with the dog.

Again Damian found himself chasing his friend and dog, this time through the manor, all the way down a hallway to a room he hardly thought about anymore. The door was always locked, aside from the one time he’d picked it to see what was inside.

“What’s this room?” Jon asked pulling Titus back from the door where he was scratching at it.

“My Grandmother’s powder room.” Damian answered. It was in the perfect spot too, close to the ballroom, but still on the second floor. An easy place for a woman to disappear to during parties if they needed a break or to freshen up.

Damian knew the room to be dusty, not because Father had a problem with it, but because no one used it. He’d offered it to Cass, but she had little interest in a room to use for ‘freshening’ so it stayed locked unless Alfred was doing a deep cleaning of the manor.

“Ohhh.” Jon said. “That’s the perfect place for a ghost to hide.”

“It is one of the least used rooms in the manor.” Damian agreed. “Let me unlock it.” He stepped in front of Jon and knelt to pick the lock on the door.

This time it was Jon who stopped him. “Are you sure about this, Damian?” he asked.

Damian didn’t want to deny the fact that his heart was racing. He had no idea what waited for them beyond the door. What he did know is that he was tired of chasing it around, tired of not knowing, and tired of being scared of something he’d only seen as a flash between bookshelves.

“Of course, we have to know.” Damian said, he frowned as he realized that the door was unlocked. He stood, his hand still on the knob.

“I know that. I mean, about going first.” Jon said. “I could head in before you. I mean it could be dangerous. It was pretty scary in the attic.”

Damian shook his head. “I’ll be fine. If it’s really a ghost, they’re one of my ancestors.”

He swung the door open to Jon’s muttering behind him. “Ok, but I’m mostly invincible.” 

Damian couldn’t help but grin at the slight grump in Jon’s voice, and the fact that his friend was willing to take on a ghost for him, invincible or not. Jon was surprising him. From his willingness to explore the question of the ghost, to his initiative to continue the search, and now his attempt at heroism. It was commendable, and Damian felt a spark of pride that they were on this adventure together.

The room seemed to be empty, even so, Titus slunk past their legs and further into the room. Damian and Jon both paused to look around the dusty room. It was in much the same shape Damian had seen it in last, vanity and chair untouched, the other furniture covered with sheets, and a stack of neat boxes off to the far side of the room tucked behind a sofa.

Titus slipped behind the couch and the next moment there was a yelp of surprise and someone popped up from behind the couch, huge messy brown hair covered the face and an old dress seemed to dwarf the figure.

Except, the voice had been familiar, and as Damian took a step forward, shaking off Jon’s suddenly worried hand on his arm, he realized that the dress wasn’t dwarfing the figure. If anything it was the other way around. The browns of the dress blended with the brown of a leather jacket, and the hair looked more like a sloppily placed wig.

“Todd?” Damian asked.

Fumbling fingers shoved hair out of the way and Jason grinned through the rest of the messy wig. “Hey Baby Bat. And friend.” He tagged on seeing Jon.

“odd, as in Jason Todd? I thought you were patrolling?” Jon asked moving to stand next to Damian.

Jason tugged the wig off his head and frowned at it before tossing it back behind him. “What do you guys think about the dress? Flattering or Fattering?” He winked at Jon who’s face only seemed to get more confused as he tried to stammer out an answer.

“Ignore my idiot brother, Kent.” Damian said, before turning to Jason. “This is no time to joke, Todd. What are you doing? We thought you were a ghost.”

Jason shrugged. “First of all, rude.” He said before he let the dress drop, “Secondly, Damian I thought you of all people would be a little more sensitive.”

Damian’s mouth dropped open and he felt his cheeks get hot. “That’s not… I didn’t… You know I wasn’t making a joke out of your death.” He said at last finding his words.

“Wait, death?” Jon asked looking between the two. “What do you mean death? Did you die? And why would you know better than anyone Damian?” Jon volleyed the questions without waiting for an answer, making Jason’s grin widen.

Jason leaned down and plucked a book from below him before moving around the couch towards the boys. “Yes, Damian, why don’t you explain how I died once and why it’s not nice to make fun of it, especially since you yourself could have been called a ghost not so long ago.”

Damian gave Jason his best glare before turning to Jon. “My family has a complicated history with death.” He said by way of explanation. “Both Todd and I have died before. Obviously we did not stay that way.”

“Wait.” Jon held a hand up, “You mean to tell me you _died_ and you don’t believe in ghosts?”

“That’s what’s bothering you most about this?” Damian raised an eyebrow at him.

Jon shrugged. “Weirder things have happened. I mean my parents came from a different world. I’m not judging, I just can’t believe that you were a ghost and you don’t believe in them.”

Damian sighed. “I was not a ghost. Not that I can remember at least. And I never said I did not believe in spirits, just ghosts.”

Jon frowned at him, his face saying they’d finish this conversation later when Jason wasn’t trying to sneak out of the room, before he turned to the older robin. “Alright then not-ghost-Jason, what were you doing snooping around this room? And the attic?”

Damian grinned at Jon’s addition, he’d put the same thing together that Damian had, Jason had been the one in the attic, Titus wouldn’t have followed his scent here if it had been anyone else. Damian figured Jason had also been in the library earlier as well.

Jason froze in his attempt to sneak out and held up the book he’d retrieved, it had yellowed pages, and a sheen of dust, but seemed in relatively good condition. “I was looking for this. I started it when I was a kid and I figured if I’d be babysitting you two tonight I might as well finish it.”

“Babysit?” Jon asked.

Damian shook his head, “You have it wrong, Todd. I was watching Kent.”

“No, I was watching Damian.” Jon said, crossing his arms.

"And I was watching you two.” Jason said, seeming to enjoy the flabbergasted looks on the faces of the two boys.

Jason chuckled. “Do you really think Bruce would leave the both of you together in the manor without appointing more than one person to watch you? You don’t have a stellar track record for not sneaking out.”

“Why the ghost thing then?” Jon asked. “Why not just keep an eye on us like a normal babysitter?”

Jason scratched Titus’s head as the dog reappeared from behind the couch, “Damian doesn’t respond well to normal.” At Damian’s affronted scoff Jason shrugged. “You don’t. Anyway, after I accidentally gave you guys that scare in the library I thought, why not use this to my advantage? Plus, I still hadn’t found my book, and thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.”

“And why this room?” Jon asked.

Jason looked around the room with a fond smile. “I used to like to read in here. No one ever bothered me when I snuck in.”

There was a flash of lightning from the window and a crack of thunder. Titus whined and inched towards the door.

“I think, that’s our cue to return to the living room.” Jason said. “Why don’t I make up for the spooks with some embarrassing stories about Damian?”

“Out of the question.” Damian answered.

Jason motioned both boys out of the room after Titus. “Alright, what about Tim then?”

“I believe that would be a good start to making up for sending us on a wild goose chase.” Damian said.

“Don’t you mean wild ghost chase?” Jon asked.

Damian chuckled and Jason laughed. “Yes, Jon. I believe I did.” He said as they let the door click shut behind them.


End file.
